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A Quick Look at the Use of AI in Product Development
Reviewed by Franklin Cedric on
January 18, 2017.

AI, or artificial intelligence to give it its full name, is a term most often used to describe software which enables processes and as well machinery to behave in a way that looks ‘intelligent’. The difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence is not just summed in the fact that artificial intelligence is that which […]

AI, or artificial intelligence to give it its full name, is a term most often used to describe software which enables processes and as well machinery to behave in a way that looks ‘intelligent’. The difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence is not just summed in the fact that artificial intelligence is that which […]

A Quick Look at the Use of AI in Product Development

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AI, or artificial intelligence to give it its full name, is a term most often used to describe software which enables processes and as well machinery to behave in a way that looks ‘intelligent’.

The difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence is not just summed in the fact that artificial intelligence is that which is performed by something inanimate, but because it mimics human intelligence rather than achieves it.

To reiterate, AI programs and / or devices have not (yet) been endowed with consciousness. This means that AI in no form is able to think imaginatively. Nor does AI in any form have consciousness; that is, and as the name describes: AI is artificial; AI robots (to use the most pop culture example) are not self aware – though they seem it.

AI is currently used in a massively broad range of means. AI is used in face recognition programs. It is used by the supermarkets to provide customers with the best level of service and choice possible; when items are scanned at the checkout, AI is used to ensure this sold stock gets replenished as quickly as possible, for example. AI is also used by the military in a number of ways and in medicine where it is put to an ever growing number of uses.

To provide another example (and one most of us will be familiar with and might have even used today or to find this article), AI is what personal assistant programs such as Microsoft’s Cortana rely upon and use – and which those interested can learn more about via the Microsoft website page: What is Cortana?

AI is used in a range of ways and put to several uses when it comes to product development.

The use of AI in product development has not only sped up the process, made the entire process of product development more efficient and so too made products more efficient; AI has also reduced the costs associated with much product development as computer programs and programmable equipment and machinery can now be used in place of people.

In brief, AI is relied upon to assess the many design, function and related components and elements of a proposed product as being unencumbered by consciousness and so unable to make ‘human errors’, AI can do this with both speed and accuracy beyond the scope of a ‘real person’. This is not the only way or the only areas of product design AI is being used to improve though; you can discover them as well as some of the specific AI programs and techniques used via the Elsevier website Special Issue: Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Product Engineering.